And, like many things in this godforsaken industry, it has its positives and its negatives. A positive is that you have a nice, long transition period to bring up any skill levels that might be lacking, and to prepare for the inevitable craptastic parts of the job.

The downside is that your length of servitude to the suits is drawn out yet longer. Of course, even promoted, I will still be a relative serf to my corporate overlords. The upside is that I'll be more like a serf with a baron's portfolio.

And then, at least, I'll be able to do a baron's job and maybe one day, find me a barony.

Of course, there are other, more nefarious aspects of this type of promotion. The office feels lonely. Everyone does. Morale is way down and it feels like my little office has a missing person. And then there's the sometimes-frictiony division of labor that must inevitably follow from this transition.

Part this.And often, in the transition period, some workers (like your faithful Atlas) will be forced to effectively do two jobs. And can anyone guess if I'll be getting extra financial compensation while working these jobs?

I'm going through a similar situation at the moment. There are days when I'm actively involved in meetings, feeling creatively stimulated . . . you know . . . happy, and other days when the phone-answering, meeting-coordinating, call-rolling part of me wants to pull a Carrie on the office.

Part this. Part that.

I'm sure there's a fitting song lyric somewhere that would makes us cry bittersweet tears and leave us putting our hands in our pockets, looking to the side and smiling a la President Bartlett.